Odyssey - NOON (Review)

There’s usually very little western inspired music that comes out of the UAE that I enjoy. There could be a wide variety of reasons why that is happening, but this album from dubai-based trio “Noon” was a very enjoyable experience for me from top to bottom. I found them on Instagram in March 2022 while I was looking for more local artists to support and was immediately intrigued by their bio: “an experimental music project from Dubai comprising elements of traditional middle eastern music with polyrhythmic Jazz/rock”. I checked out their Spotify and was immediately disappointed to find they had only released two songs at that point. 

I scoured their socials to find any news on a possible album release… nothing. Nothing but a vague “album coming soon”. So, I gave up. I moved my focus to other artists, local and not, and occasionally checked up on them. Until a week ago, I hadn't even known they had finally gone through with releasing the record they had been promising for months. No roll-out, no pre-release singles, no real promo, nothing. So, here I am 2 months late to review this album.

This record starts off with a song that sets the tone. It includes most, if not all, the elements you see throughout this LP. One of the many notable things is that they use a drum kit for percussion instead of traditional percussion like most Arab fusion stuff tends to. It’s choices like these that are what makes this album fascinating and really shows off their technical skills. 

My favourite song on here is Hybridge pt.1, most of this LP uses the oud as the main instrument, so the vocals on here are a breath of fresh air. The singing on this is so amazing and the little moments where the oud comes in perfectly balanced and doesn't overpower the vocals. The melodies the oud is playing complement the vocal melodies so well. This track was such an immersive experience, I didn't notice it was 8 minutes long when I first heard it. They are a fusion band that combines many different cultures and genres that I've never heard combined quite like this. As I mentioned before, they use a drum kit instead of traditional percussion throughout this whole LP, and the expert drumming is one major factor of what makes this work. The oud melodies are really beautiful and, in the more rock inspired moments on this record, they have a way of making me forget it’s an oud, like on the song Walks on Nawa. And the production on this entire album is sublime.

But, there is one main problem that presents itself multiple times throughout the album. This album has many different things going on, and one tool they use to combine them is a switch up. A switch up is a sudden switch between two musical ideas. Sometimes they pull these off. Other times they either switch up too fast, cutting the previous idea too short, or they don't switch up fast enough and let a melody or idea go on for too long and become repetitive. 

A great example is the switch up in the opening track “Longa Nahawand”, the song starts off calm and slow and then builds to a great track with a phenomenal balance of rock and traditional Arab music elements. My main problem is that they switch back to a slower, more stripped down song. I, personally, didn't enjoy this switch very much. It throws off the momentum and really ruins everything the earlier half of this song was building to. And these types of switches are prevalent all throughout this album, and many times it's so awkward it stops the experience from being as enjoyable. The only way I can think to describe it is that it feels like an unfinished plate of food being taken from me while I was enjoying it. They don’t always let the ideas they start finish. And there are many instances of this on the record that I will not be listing.

All in all, this LP was an interesting experience for me, top to bottom, and while it’s not my favourite and it has its pros and cons, It is by far the most promising thing I have heard from a debut record from the UAE. I always love supporting small artists worldwide and I will never not stop to check something out, and a lot of the time it is incredibly rewarding. Noon have been teasing this album for months and I believe they largely delivered on their promises. I am incredibly excited for what is to come.